I really enjoy DFH and I thought that a barleywine by them would be pretty good.

A - Deep orange color. Pours thick that is slightly opaque. Big white head with good lacing.

S - Strong malt character with alcohol, some hops, and some dark fruits thrown in the mix. Definitely a barleywine that is malt forward and has the muchness that you would expect from the 15% ABV tag.

T - Initially it is complex with mostly the rich malt character holding true, then the alcohol along with some light citrus, herbal hops and then fruity yeast character. There is a boozy character to this beer but with the strong caramel/malt sweetness it is tolerable. The complex fruit is a nice flavor to help balance out the rich malt. There is only a slight hop bitterness but this beer is definitely malty sweet.

M - Huge mouth-feel with higher carbonation. It is heavy on the palate and the high carbonation really tries to bring all of the flavors alive on the tongue. I think it was very good but with the alcohol heat I'm sure that age is the key to this "Olde School" brew.

Overall, a very good representation of the style. I really enjoyed what this beer had to offer but the boozy character and high mouth-feel isn't what I would prefer to drink everyday. It has everything that you would want in an American Barleywine and if you haven't tried one and can tolerate the burn then this would be a great one to try.

Picked up a 12 oz. bottle of this a few weeks back up in Totowa, never having this before. I don't have this style a whole lot and these tend to be a bit too strong for me but I really enjoyed this and felt that this was a solid, textbook example of the style for so many reasons. The alcohol was present but recessed and the flavors were present but not strong enough to drown out each other or the booze in this. Combine that with a slick mouthfeel and this was a winner that I'd love to have again before this winter finally goes away!

Solid pour to this, as the dark orange hue had a good head and just a hint of lacing the stuck around for the duration. Not a lot of carbonation to this as this had the appearance and consistency of a true Barleywine, or even a dark mead. Lots of booze and dark fruit in the nose, as the dates and figs were reinforced with apricot, crystalline sweetness, and honey. Slick and smooth, this went down well without being too sweet or overloaded with grain and barley. The sweetness stuck around in the aftertaste, along with the resin that had a buttery feel to it.

To be fair, this beer was a beast and one bottle would be enough for a sitting even though I could have easily cracked open another. It did not feel like 15% ABV but there was enough here to bowl me over in more than one way. Possibly the best offering outside of the 120 for Dogfish and grand enough to turn me on to the style - if you've never had something of this sort before, this would be an excellent choice to start with. Quite lovely from start to finish!